Cardinals at No. 7 in USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll
January 29, 2015 | Baseball
Sophomore Will Smith watches a fly ball last season at Jim Patterson Stadium.
• 2015 USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville baseball team received its highest preseason ranking of 2015 on Thursday landing at No. 7 in the USA Today preseason coaches poll.
Earning their second highest preseason ranking in school history behind only the No. 4 position by Baseball America in 2013, the Cardinals are ranked in the top 12 in each of the five preseason national polls released thus far. Louisville is also at No. 9 in the Perfect Game preseason Top 25, No. 11 in the D1Baseball Top 25 and No. 12 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball newspaper polls.
Louisville is ranked in the preseason for the eighth straight season and the Cardinals have remained in the national polls every week since the release of the 2012 preseason rankings. Louisville, which closed last year's College World Series season ranked as highly as No. 6 overall, is among five ACC schools in the coaches preseason poll. Leading the way for the ACC is No. 2 Virginia followed by the seventh-ranked Cardinals, No. 12 Florida State, No. 14 Miami and No. 15 North Carolina while Georgia Tech and Clemson are among the teams outside the top 25 receiving votes.
Last season's NCAA champion Vanderbilt is atop the USA Today Top 25 followed by No. 2 Virginia, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Florida. Rounding out the top 10 is No. 6 Texas, Louisville and Oklahoma State tied at No. 7, No. 9 UCLA and No. 10 South Carolina.
The Cardinals will open the 2015 season at the Clearwater (Fla.) Tournament against Alabama State (Feb. 13), USF (Feb. 14) and Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 15) at Bright House Field. Louisville's 33-game home slate at Jim Patterson Stadium is set to begin on Feb. 18 against Eastern Kentucky.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
